This past Saturday (6/6/15) I decided to fish in my very first fishing tournament and what better tournament to fish than the Lone Star Kayak Series. Sonny Mills has been trying to talk me into fishing one of these events for quite some time and I finally decided there is no time like the present. With the school year wrapping up on Friday I needed something to kick off summer with and this seemed like the perfect plan.
The alarm went off at 3:00 am and I was loaded up and headed to “Reel Life’s” house by 3:30. After stopping for breakfast and a few quick snacks we were headed out. We met up with “Legocrusader” at one our favorite spots and shoved off at 6 am on the nose. I kind of expected to see more yaks on the water, but I was pleasantly surprised when I realized we had the place to our self.
After a short paddle I made my first cast of the morning and half way through my retrieve, FISH ON! A short fight later and I had my first red in the boat. She was a little over 20” and this is where I made my first tournament angler mistake. . .I let her go! I know, I know, I know, you can always upgrade, but when you land a fish on your first cast of the day you think surely I can catch two more. Well, we can talk about this later.
There was nervous bait and fish popping everywhere and a few casts later “Reel Life” hooks up with his first fish of the day and at 26.25” it goes on the stringer. We worked that section of water for another hour and never hooked up with another fish. At this point we decided to change locations to see if we could find them somewhere else.
As much as I love paddling when there is almost no wind sometimes it causes more harm than good. On this particular day it made fishing any form of protected water absolutely miserable. There was very little tide movement and with no wind blown current the fish were scattered everywhere and very difficult to find. After a couple of hours searching for fish in stagnant water we decided to head for the open bay and look for some under water structure.
After a little exploring I was able to locate a shallow water shell reef located on a point that had some decent water movement over it. On my first drift I hooked up again. This fish had some shoulders and was dragging me all over the place. In my mind this is the fish I had been looking for. When I finally get the
first good look at it I realize it has way too many spots. This is probably the only time in my life I was disappointed about landing a fat 23.5” trout. I made a few more drifts and finally put one more red on the deck. At a perfect 21” I strung her up thinking I might have a good shot at winning the blackjack competition.
With time running out I turned my attention from fisherman to guide. I was thinking if “Reel Life” could get one more fish he might have a shot at the money. We fished until the absolute last minute and couldn’t find another fish. So we made the decision to hit the road and try to make weigh in. If nothing else the beer would be cold and the food would be good so we packed up and headed to the Lazy Lizard.
We pulled in the parking lot with 5 mi
nutes to spare and upon arrival the weigh master said that we would both getting paid because were two of only 31 anglers to weigh in fish. After a few pictures were taken and some good food we received the final tally. I finished 27th out of 125 anglers with a total weight of 3.7 lbs and even took down the black jack pot with a perfect 21” fish. “Reel Life” came in 18th with his fish at 6.2 lbs. All in all it was a pretty good day and I am already looking forward to the August event. Next time around I won’t make the mistake of cutting loose a legal fish!
| Wind | Tide | Weather | Baro | Depth | Bottom | Lures |
| 0-3 MPH | Incoming w/Small Differential | Sunny | Steady | 1-3 FT | Mixed Mud & Shell | Hunchback Skitterwalk |
Texas Flat Rat 